Under the Tree of Light
by Sempai Sunny
Summary: A songfic! My first for Tenchi! Ryoko laments on Tenchi


Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo. Just the DVDs they play on. I don't own "Acoustic #3" by the Goo Goo Dolls. ::kuroneko nudges me:: Oh, and this is my first Tenchi fic, my 8th or something ever. We'll see how this goes. This takes place in the movie "Daughter of Darkness", right after Tenchi slaps Ryoko, but before Ayeka finds her. Ryoko's POV. As my Trigun songfic fans know, the * means that these are song lyrics. Spoilers for how Mayuka ended up in the tree in the first place and OVA and Universe spoilers.  
  
Under the Tree of Light  
  
"Yeah. Everyone except Ryoko, who's just in the way," I say mournfully and vanish. I can hear Tenchi and the others call to me, but I don't return.  
  
I reappear under the Tree of Light. Even though it's the tree of the Jurai royal family, and Ayeka hates me with a vengeance, I feel comforted whenever I come here, like someone is listening to me. I like to pretend that it's the goddess Tokimi, since she doesn't ever stay with us, even though Washu and Sasami do. (A/N: For anyone who's completely lost, there are three goddesses in Tenchi Muyo: Washu, Tsunami, and Tokimi. Tsunami assimilated with Sasami in OVA--original version anime--I think, but anyway)  
  
*They painted up your secrets  
  
With the lies they told to you  
  
And the least they ever gave you  
  
Was the most you ever knew*  
  
Tenchi is so clueless when it comes to girls. There's something going on with that Mayuka girl, and it's not good. I tried to get her to tell me what was going on.  
  
"We were going for a walk!" She cried.  
  
"Well, now you're going for a drop!" I yelled at her and let her go. I watched her sail through the sky towards the lake. "Mayuka!" I call after her, "I'll say goodbye to your daddy for you!"  
  
I got so angry at myself. I dove towards the lake and caught her in time. She was already unconscious, which means if she'd hit the water, then she wouldn't have felt it. I flew back up and placed her in a cedar tree.  
  
*And I wonder where these dreams go  
  
When the world gets in your way  
  
What's the point in all this screaming  
  
No one's listening anyway*  
  
Please. I've loved Tenchi since the day he set me free. I have never gotten along with Ayeka, have to constantly watch myself so Kiyone doesn't feel compelled to arrest me, and am generally keeping myself in check because I personally don't fancy being locked up in a cave for another seven hundred years.  
  
I remembered the time with the dimension tuner, when we all broke it. My fantasy was the last one Washu would let us experience before coming home. That was my dream sometimes.  
  
*Your voice is small and fading  
  
And you hide in here unknown  
  
And your mother loves your father  
  
'Cause she's got nowhere to go*  
  
I dipped my foot in the water, remembering the fight we just had. Kashuhito had just found Mayuka and brought her home. The first thing that Mayuka did was come in and start yelling at me, and I yelled back.  
  
I can't get into a fight without lashing out and hurting someone, but this time, I was the one who got hurt. Tenchi just got so angry at me that he slapped me right across the face.  
  
He tried to apologize, explaining how he didn't see Mayuka any differently than the rest of us, how he treated us all the same, how we were all special to him.  
  
*And she wonders where these dreams go  
  
'Cause the world got in her way  
  
What's the point in ever trying  
  
Nothing's changing anyway*  
  
Maybe I'd just stay in this tree. Like they'd notice.  
  
I still didn't really understand how Mayuka could be Tenchi's daughter, even if she did come from the future. Yes, Washu said that genetically it is true, but it doesn't seem right. And there was that flash of light around Tenchi and Mayuka when I found them on the steps of the shrine earlier.  
  
*They press their lips against you  
  
And you love the lies they say  
  
And I tried so hard to reach you  
  
But you're falling anyway*  
  
I don't really have any hope to be Tenchi's wife. I'm a few thousand years too old for him. Ayeka's the same age as his grandfather, but she's more his type. Tenchi couldn't even handle it when we were in the dimension tuner.  
  
"Ryoko, I-" I remembered him starting to say something that under normal circumstances, I would have loved to hear, but I hushed him. If he said it, we would have never been able to return home. I told him that, then.  
  
I wondered if he would have said that tonight, in an effort to be forgiven. Probably not.  
  
*And you know I see right through you  
  
When the world gets in your way  
  
What's the point in all this screaming  
  
You're not listening anyway*  
  
Yeah. Probably not. 


End file.
